


79 

.<iu-l 



m*& 






•issued tog 

nicijml Ari 

of ^nlttmorv 



Hlii* TOniucipal Art^Satirtu 



/ 






ill 

? 1 1 



a 






Frem iet's 
"Howard" 






An Equestrian Statue Erected by the Municipal 

Art Society of Baltimore. Addresses 

Delivered at the Unveiling. 



I904 



3obn Eager Mowarb 

agrees bg 
Daniel C. Oilman 



THE simple ceremony in which we are about 
to engage brings us by a designed coinci- 
dence to the base of a monument which 
suggests, by its dignity and repose, the emi- 
nent character that it commemorates. For 
more than a hundred years the name of Wash- 
ington has been honored with unquestioned 
praise wherever our flag has gone, — and never 
in words more fit than those of Richard Henry 
Lee which every generation should repeat with 
gratitude, "First in war, First in peace, and 
First in the hearts of his countrymen." 

We are not so presumptuous as to think that 
any act of ours can add lustre to his name, nor 
to suppose that the art of sculpture, however 
successful it may be, can enhance the beauty of 
that column, "simple, erect, austere, sublime," 
near which we have placed the statue of an- 
other soldier of the Revolution. Nevertheless, 
it is a pleasure to associate with the name of 
Washington, the name of a Marylander subor- 
dinate to the great Commander, who like him 
fought, suffered and triumphed ; in war, a hero ; 
in peace, a servant of the state; the patriot 
soldier, Colonel John Eager Howard. 

From the days of Cincinnatus until recent; 
times there have been commanders who laid 
down their swords when strife was ended, and 
who engaged in the pursuits of civil life until 
called by their countrymen to renewed service 



in the councils of the government. At Anna- 
polis, in a chamber which should be forever 
sacred as one of the shrines of American 
patriotism, Washington surrendered his com- 
mission, and thence he returned, soon after- 
wards, to his home at Mt. Vernon, where he 
remained until the people made him President. 
In like manner, in a less conspicuous but not 
less patriotic way, Howard, after the years of 
military privation and perils were passed, found 
repose in Belvedere, his country-seat, remain- 
ing the foremost citizen of Baltimore until he 
was chosen first the Governor of Maryland and 
afterwards a Senator of the United States. 
Despondent Americans sometimes express the 
fear, if they do not suppress the hope, that 
from our democracy an imperial monarchy will 
arise, and that some Caesar or Napoleon will 
assume the power of a dictator ; but such a pos- 
sibility, to us abhorrent, will never become a 
reality among those who cherish the words and 
the examples of Washington and Howard. 

In travelling through this and other lands, it 
is interesting to note the various embodiments 
in sculpture of popular affection for heroes. 
In Rome on the Capitoline hill stands one of 
the noblest remains of ancient art, — the statue 
of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, — and as if 
stimulated by this remembrance, almost every 
city of Italy has its statues of Garibaldi, Cavour 



10 



and Victor Emmanuel. Near the banks of the 
Neva, Catherine the Second placed on a mass 
of granite the spirited figure of Peter the Great. 
In the capital of Prussia, Frederick the Great is 
honored by one of the finest monuments of 
modern art, the superb work of Rauch. On 
the Rue de Rivoli in Paris, the very sculptor 
whose work is before us, has modelled an eques- 
trian figure of the far-famed deliverer of 
France, the Maid of Orleans. In London, Nel- 
son's column overlooks Westminster. The 
dome of St. Paul's covers the monument of the 
Iron Duke as the dome of the Invalides in 
Paris enshrines the remains of his antago- 
nist. There are statues of Washington in Bos- 
ton, New York, Philadelphia, Washington and 
Richmond; lately also, by the generosity of 
American women, in the capital of France. To 
one of the greatest of living sculptors we owe 
the memorials of Farragut and Sherman in 
New York, of Shaw in Boston, and of Lincoln 
in Chicago. The city of Washington has many 
equestrian statues. Richmond has its Robert 
E. Lee. These are but examples of the homage 
paid to wisdom, courage and self-sacrifice, — 
monuments, often but unfortunately not always 
produced by artists of genius, usually if not 
always evoked by sentiments of the loftiest 
patriotism. 

ii 



The statue now erected in Baltimore is cer- 
tainly worthy to be named among those already 
mentioned, both because of its distinction as a 
work of art by one of the foremost sculptors in 
the city of Paris, the focus of modern art, and 
also because of the man commemorated. It is 
a tribute of admiration and affection from cer- 
tain members of the Municipal Art Society of 
Baltimore who cherish with gratitude the 
memory of Howard. The work of the artist, 
M. Fremiet, sustains his high reputation. The 
details of costume and equipment in the time 
of the Revolutionary war have been carefully 
reproduced. The attitude and expression of 
the hero are dignified and spirited. Hence- 
forward, the citizen in his daily walks, the 
stranger as he enters the city, the student as he 
goes to the library, the children as they gather 
about the monument of Washington, will be 
attracted by this figure, and as they think of 
the person thus honored, seventy-six years af- 
ter his death, they will learn a lesson of patriot- 
ism, courage, public spirit and good citizenship. 
If they inquire, they will be told that among the 
men of Maryland, in the formative period of 
this nation, none served the commonwealth 
better than the friend of Washington and La- 
fayette ; the supporter of Greene ; in "times that 
tried men's souls," the unflinching patriot, 
brave on many battle-fields; in the public 

12 



councils, a wise and unblemished statesman; 
throughout his life the public-spirited benefac- 
tor of Baltimore. 

Howard does not stand alone among the 
worthies of Maryland commemorated by their 
grateful fellow-citizens. In the national capi- 
tol, the legislature has placed the statues of 
John Hanson and Charles Carroll; near the 
state-house in Annapolis we are reminded of 
the gallantry of that great leader of the Mary- 
land Line, General DeKalb. There is a truly 
speaking likeness of Chief Justice Taney in the 
statue by our own Rinehart. The figure of 
George Peabody has been placed in front of the 
athenaeum which he founded. Soon, in a pub- 
lic place, we shall see a representation of one 
whose departure we still mourn, whose pen still 
counsels, whose example still inspires the young 
men of Baltimore — Severn Teackle Wallis. 
Hereafter, others will thus be brought to re- 
membrance by the sculptor's art. Among 
them, there should certainly be a tribute to the 
founder of the university and hospital which 
have brought so much distinction and benefit 
to this city. There are other heroes of the Rev- 
olution, of whom we are reminded by the life 
and services of Howard, especially participants 
in the Southern campaign, General Gist, Gen- 
eral Otho H. Williams, General Smallwood, 
and Colonel John Gunby. 

13 



In order that justice may be done to the 
career of a man of mark, it is necessary to con- 
sider the times in which he lived and the oppor- 
tunities which were opened to him. If "all the 
world's a stage and all the men and women 
merely players," we must give heed to the 
scenes, the accessories and the associated char- 
acters of the drama. A great historian, whose 
graphic style fixes the attention of every reader 
quite as firmly as Macaulay's, has acknowl- 
edged his obligations to Shakespeare's dramatic 
treatment of historic events. He presents the 
stage, the actors and the deeds. For a study 
of the American Revolution, the material is 
superabundant. The story of that great series 
of events has been told again and again, not 
only by annalists and biographers, but by his- 
torians, many of whom had rare gifts of ex- 
pression and knew how to omit the unessential 
from their narratives and give emphasis to 
important crises; therefore a few words only 
will be needed to remind you of the circum- 
stances under which the character of Howard 
was developed. The pages of Lee, Marshall, 
Tarleton, Greene, Bancroft, Fiske, Trevelyan, 
Wilson, Doyle, and recently of McCrady are 
accessible to those who wish for a closer study 
of the period. In a cursory way, it may be said 
that the Revolutionary war was fought in three 
regions, — north of the Potomac, south of the 

14 



Potomac and west of the Alleghanies. The 
engagements in the west are less vividly re- 
membered, but the work of George R. Clark 
and his followers secured to the Americans the 
permanent possession of the Ohio Valley. Cam- 
paigns in the north began in 1775, in Eastern 
Massachusetts, and continued with varying 
results until the close of the war, chiefly on the 
seaboard and in the natural highway to Canada 
by the Hudson River and the Lakes George 
and Champlain. The most decisive battle was 
fought in October, 1777, at Saratoga, when the 
British army met with disastrous defeat and 
General Burgoyne surrendered. The fighting 
continued notwithstanding this victory, and 
the names of many a battle-field in New 
York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania recall the 
patience and the bravery of the American army. 
The Southern campaigns began with the Brit- 
ish capture of Savannah and the subsequent 
capture of Charleston and the adjacent sea- 
board, so that in 1780 Cornwallis was ready to 
begin his strenuous endeavors to recover in the 
South the prestige which Burgoyne had lost in 
the North. His efforts were largely directed 
toward the suppression of all patriotic senti- 
ments among the inhabitants of Georgia and 
the Carolinas. He was gradually led to take 
up his position at Yorktown where the Ameri- 
can and French forces compelled his surrender. 

15 



By the defeat of Cornwallis the war was vir- 
tually closed, and the independence of the 
United Colonies, proclaimed five years before, 
was secured. 

Such was the drama of the Revolution. Let 
us now see the entrance upon the stage of 
Howard, the man whom we are assembled to 
honor. 

When the gales, foretold by Patrick Henry, 
in words that every school-boy used to know by 
heart, had swept from the north and brought 
to the listening ears of anxious southerners the 
clash of resounding arms, Maryland was ready 
to do her part in support of the principles of 
independence. Among the earliest to enlist 
was James McHenry, who began an as army 
surgeon and who rose by his merits to the post 
of Secretary of War under Washington and 
Adams. His monument is Fort McHenry, in 
the harbor, over which the Star Spangled Ban- 
ner "still waved" on a memorable morning in 
1814. 

Another young man, then twenty-four years 
old, of good family and education, living in 
circumstances of comfort if not of affluence, in 
Baltimore County, joined the army, in 1776. 
Even two years earlier, in November, 1774, he 
had taken part in those patriotic proceedings 
of the people of Maryland, which established 
the principle of independence. He was offered 

16 



the commission of a colonel, but with the 
modesty which characterised his life, he de- 
clined the responsibility of that position and 
instead of it accepted the commission of a 
captain, in what was called "the flying camp," 
commanded by Colonel J. Carvel Hall. In 
two days Captain John Eager Howard had re- 
cruited a company and with it he marched 
toward the scene of action in the north, where 
his services began in the battle of White Plains. 
Shortly afterwards his corps was dismissed, 
and the captain was promoted to be a major in 
one of the battalions of the line, then enlisted by 
Congress for the war. The "Maryland Line" 
having completed its organization in the spring 
of 1777, Howard, with his command, joined 
the army in New Jersey and remained with it 
until his father's death compelled a return to 
Baltimore. After a short respite, he went back 
to his post and took part in the battle of Ger- 
mantown, where Maryland troops formed a 
considerable part of Sullivan's division on the 
right of the army. As the colonel of his regi- 
ment was disabled the command of it devolved 
upon Howard. It is an oft-noted coincidence 
that the house of Chief Justice Chew which 
proved to be a castle for the British com- 
mander, a temporary fortress, as it was called, 
was the summer residence of the future Mrs. 
Howard. The Americans were unsuccessful, 

17 



chiefly because a dense fog hung over the 
region and prevented the transmission of or- 
ders and the concentration of effort. There 
is extant a vivid account of this battle, written 
by Colonel Howard, which distinctly shows the 
brave and determined action of his regiment. 
The battle of Monmouth followed and with it 
closes the first chapter of Howard's experience. 

The second chapter is more eventful. The 
troops of Maryland and Delaware were ordered 
to the relief of Charleston, and Howard, then 
lieutenant-colonel of the Fifth Maryland Regi- 
ment in the army of the United States, pre- 
pared to go with them. Several hotly contested 
battles were fought with alternating defeats 
and victories, Cornwallis trying to secure com- 
plete control of the Carolinas, before carrying 
the war into Virginia. The result was York- 
town. 

The country traversed by the contending 
forces includes the States of Georgia, North 
and South Carolina, and a part of Southern 
Virginia. It lies east of the mountains and 
descends from a piedmont or plateau region to 
the seaboard, where the harbors already named 
attracted the enemy. The tract is crossed by 
many streams, flowing to the ocean in a south- 
easterly direction and easily crossed by fords in 
their upper courses. In this region, beside the 
cities of the coast, the strategic points were 

18 



Camden, Augusta, and Ninety-Six, where im- 
portant roads converged. The inhabitants of 
this country were not of one mind. Many of 
them were loyal to the crown; more espoused 
the cause of independence and liberty; some 
were on both sides, — according to the fortunes 
of war. Indeed the campaigns had many of 
the saddest characteristics of a civil war. In 
this up-river country there were marches and 
counter-marches of the hostile forces leading to 
engagements which were severe but not de- 
cisive. 

Two foreigners who took part in the South- 
ern campaign are worthy of remembrance here 
and now, Pulaski and DeKalb, the Pole and the 
German. One fell in the siege of Savannah, 
one in the battle of Camden ; both deserve our 
grateful homage. DeKalb brought the prestige 
of one who had been trained in the best of 
European schools, — an Alsatian who had been 
a brigadier in the French army, had been en- 
couraged by Franklin and Silas Deane to join 
the American forces, and had been intrusted 
by Washington with important commands. A 
little imagination will suggest the impression 
made by this famous soldier upon the young 
men of Maryland. 

There is a contemporary account of the cam- 
paigns of 1 780- 1 so short that none need pass 
it by, so trustworthy that all may accept it. It 

19 



comes from the pen of one of the best writers 
and one of the greatest statesmen of the period, 
— James Madison, then recently graduated 
from Princeton College and afterwards Presi- 
dent of the United States. 

With the ultimate victory, it is well to bring 
into contrast the previous desperation. When 
Greene had been in command about six weeks, 
eight days before Cowpens, he was so dismayed 
that he wrote these words : — "The wants of 
this army are no numerous and various that 
the shortest way of telling you is to inform 
you that we have nothing. We are living upon 
charity and subsist by daily collections." There 
had been a series of changes and misfortunes. 
Pulaski was killed at Savannah, Lincoln had 
been succeeded by DeKalb, DeKalb had given 
way to Gates, the hero of Saratoga, and Gates 
gave way to Greene. 

The campaigns in the interior begin with 
the battle of Camden, in the northern part of 
South Carolina, where Gates met Cornwallis. 
It is no pleasure to recall that battle, for in it 
the Americans were wofully beaten. One his- 
torian says : "Never was victory more complete 
or defeat more total ;" too strong a statement, 
for, although the Americans were driven back 
after a bloody encounter, the enemy was not 
equal to pursuit. We have also the satisfaction 

20 



of knowing that the Maryland soldiers were 
not wanting in discipline and courage. 

Soon followed the battle of King's Moun- 
tain (October 7, 1780) when the tide turned. 
Major Ferguson had been sent by Cornwallis 
to scour the western part of South Carolina 
and join him at Charlotte, N. C. This brilliant 
partisan leader was pursued by a body of 
patriot forces irregular but determined, who 
found him posted on King's Mountain. Here 
Ferguson, after a desperate resistance, was 
completely routed and he fell at the head of his 
regulars, shot by seven bullets. By this bril- 
liant victory the Americans made up for their 
defeat at Camden. 

Upon the third engagement I ask you to 
dwell, partly because of its great importance, 
partly because in it the Baltimore colonel won 
his greatest distinction, — the battle of Cow- 
pens. In the northwest corner of South Caro- 
lina, near the boundary line, the opposing 
forces met at a place then called Hannah's Cow 
Pens, — part of a grazing establishment belong- 
ing to a man named Hannah. 

Tarleton, the lieutenant of Cornwallis, and 
the subsequent historian of his Southern cam- 
paigns, commanded the British, and Morgan, 
brave General Daniel Morgan of Saratoga 
fame, was the lieutenant of General Greene. 
Many valiant men were there assembled. 



21 



Morgan was splendid in his courage, wisdom, 
reputation and patriotism. So was William 
Washington, kinsman of the Father of his 
country, a gallant leader of the cavalry. A lit- 
tle boy of fourteen saw the battle, — one who 
became the hero of New Orleans, General An- 
drew Jackson. The grandfather of Edwin 
Warfield, now Governor of Maryland, com- 
manded a company. The fight continued but a 
short time. While it lasted, it was fierce. 
Howard, with his regiment of Marylanders, 
held the key to the situation and they took good 
care that the lock should not be forced by the 
soldiers of George the Third. The Maryland 
colonel proved himself equal to his opportunity. 
A moment's hesitation, a timid advance, a half- 
hearted leader might have lost everything. But 
Howard was quick to think, bold in action, in- 
spiring as a leader. He won the battle, and it 
was won by the use of that formidable weapon, 
— the bayonet. The report of the commanding 
officer. General Greene, tells the story tersely. 
At a critical moment, he says, when the British 
were pressing hard upon the Americans, "Colo- 
nel Howard, observing this, gave orders to 
charge bayonets which was done with such ad- 
dress that the enemy fled with the utmost pre- 
cipitation and abandoned their artillery." Al- 
though afterwards freely employed by the 
Maryland line, we have the authority of Henry 



22 



Lee for the statement that "at Cowpens the 
bayonet was first resorted to in the war;" and 
that of Morgan, the commanding officer, for 
saying that when the enemy showed signs of 
disorder, it was Colonel Howard who "gave 
orders for the line to charge bayonets, which 
was done with such address that the enemy 
fled with the utmost precipitation. At the close 
of the engagement the swords of seven British 
officers were in the hands of Howard." 

All the historians are agreed upon the impor- 
tance of this engagement. It is characterized by 
Bancroft as the most astonishing victory of the 
war, and by Fiske in words of equal weight, as 
the most brilliant battle of the war of independ- 
ence. Congress was delighted. After days of 
cloud and hurricane, sunshine had appeared. 
Courage and hope took the place of anxiety. 
Without delay, as an expression of gratitude, 
a gold medal was voted to Morgan and silver 
medals to William Washington and Howard. 
I hold before you the original Howard medal. 
On the obverse, a mounted horseman galloping 
forward, follows the flag of his country, while 
the angel of victory hovers near, ready to be- 
stow a wreath of laurels. The inscriptions are 
in Latin. On one side it reads, — To John 
Eager Howard, leader of the infantry, — (thus 
in contrast with the medal given to William 
Washington as leader of the cavalry;) and on 

23 



the reverse it declares that the medal is be- 
stowed upon the recipient because he gave a 
brilliant example of military valor by his sud- 
den attack upon the enemy, in the battle of 
Cowpens, January 17, 1781. There is good 
authority for saying that the French Academy 
was requested to furnish a design for this 
medal, and that its skillful execution is the 
work of the artist Duvivier. A replica of the 
medal I will ask Governor Warfield to accept 
as a memento of this celebration and also of 
the victory in which his ancestor took part. 

Three months after the engagement at the 
Cowpens the contending forces met again at 
Guilford Court House, where Marylanders of 
our day have placed a monument to commem- 
orate the valor of their countrymen. The story 
has been recently told by those who are well 
qualified to do justice to the bravery there dis- 
played on the fifteenth of March, 1781. How- 
ard and Gunby led the first Maryland Regi- 
ment, again using the bayonet. Although 
Greene left the battle-field in British possession, 
the battle of Guilford "marks the end of British 
power in North Carolina." So says Bancroft. 
Fiske is even more explicit. "Guilford, tacti- 
cally a defeat, strategetically a decisive victory, 
the most important since the capture of Bur- 
goyne." A British historian truly says that the 
victory was so fruitless and the losses so severe 

24 



that the battle may be considered "as the first 
step in a series of movements which terminated 
in the overthrow of the British power in Amer- 
ica." 

Six weeks later, the armies met again (April 
25), at Hobkirk's Hill, two miles from Cam- 
den, so that the engagement has been called the 
second battle of Camden. Again the British 
gained the field but they did not hold it, and the 
commander, Lord Rawdon, retired toward 
Charleston. 

In the early autumn the battle of Eutaw 
Springs was fought (September 8). Gen. 
Greene, following the enemy, came upon them 
under Lieut.-Colonel Stewart, about sixty miles 
from Charleston. Two severe engagements 
ensued with heavy losses on both sides, the 
Americans at first successful, then the British. 
As had happened before, the invaders retreated 
toward their base at Charleston, where they 
were shut up until the end came. Gen. Greene's 
tribute to the Maryland line is this : — 

"Nothing could exceed the gallantry of the 
Maryland line. Cols. Williams, Howard, and 
all the officers exhibited acts of uncommon 
bravery; and the free use of the bayonet gave 
us the victory. Many brave fellows have fal- 
len, and a great number of officers are wounded. 
Among the number is Lieut.-Col. Howard. 
The Maryland line made a charge that ex- 

25 



ceedecl anything I ever saw. But, alas! their 
ranks are thin, and their officers are few." 

The wound in the shoulder which Howard 
received in this battle was so severe that he was 
compelled to go home for surgical treatment, 
and thus he was unable to take part in the final 
scenes of the drama. The curtain fell when the 
combined armies of the north and south, with 
the aid of the fleet, met Cornwallis on the his- 
toric peninsula between the York and the 
James, and the war of Independence was over. 

Fighting ended, peace declared, the troops 
disbanded, Howard remained on his ancestral 
property in Baltimore, — a town of possibly 
twenty thousand inhabitants, quite eclipsed in 
dignity by the capital, Annapolis. Although 
we have no such picture of colonial life in Bal- 
timore as that which is given respecting Al- 
bany, by Mrs. Grant, in her Letters, — Mr. 
John P. Kennedy, in his address on "Baltimore 
long ago," gives a picture of the place not far 
from the year 1800. William Wirt, as late as 
1822, describes the Washington monument as 
"indescribably striking from the touching soli- 
tude of the scene from which it lifts its head." 
Overlooking a rapid water course (which might 
have been 'a joy forever' instead of a cloaca 
maxima), stood Belvedere, a spacious mansion 
surrounded by a wooded park, which extended 
from Jones's Falls beyond the site of the monu- 

26 



ment on the south, and beyond Howard Street 
on the west. Here was Howard's home dur- 
ing the later years of his life. 1 Here he re- 
ceived his neighbors and friends, as well as his 
companions in arms, who were passing through 
town on the great highway between the south 
and the north. Lafayette was the most distin- 
guished of them all after Washington. The 
veteran of Belvedere was not idle. Personal 
affairs required much attention; but they did 
not preclude obedience to public duties. 

The readiness with which the voters in this; 
republic turn to those who have won distinction 
in military action, when leaders are required, 
is certainly remarkable. Soldiers of the Revo- 
lution, of the war of 1812, of the Mexican war, 
of the Civil war, and of the Cuban war, have 
successfully been candidates for exalted stations 
in civil life, and in several instances have risen 
to the very highest posts. Nor does this indi- 
cate an extravagant admiration of military re- 
nown. Interference with civil rights or usurpa- 
tion, in any form, would be met with summary 
resistance, — no matter how great a favorite of 
the people might venture on this forbidden 
path. But these preferences for heroes are an 

x He was born at the place settled by his grandfather 
in the "Garrison Forest." Belvedere was built on the 
property which came to him from his mother. — Note by 
Mr. McHenry Howard, to whom the speaker zvas indebt- 
ed for much valuable information. 

27 



indication that qualities developed in the serv- 
ice of the army, — courage, endurance, self-for- 
getfulness, power to control one's self and one's 
subordinates, obedience to authority and the 
subjection to the public good of all personal 
considerations, — command the confidence and 
receive the homage of the people when these 
qualities are brought clearly to their notice. 

At frequent intervals Colonel Howard was 
called to the discharge of important civil func- 
tions. When only thirty-six years old, he was 
chosen Governor of Maryland, and at forty- 
two he became a Senator of the United States. 
The duties of both high stations were per- 
formed acceptably and faithfully. He declined 
the orifice of Secretary of War urged upon him 
by Washington. Few of us will hesitate to say 
that the services of Howard rendered to the 
commonwealth in the advancing years of his 
life, when a wounded soldier might have claim- 
ed a dignified rest, are as worthy of remem- 
brance as those of his military campaigns. Just 
think of them. An honorable descendant of 
this honorable man has placed in my hands a 
list of the stations to which Col. Howard was 
called after 1783. It is a remarkable list, — one 
that is seldom equalled in the annals of 
American biography. Let me enumerate the 
more significant places : — more than once a 
justice of the county court ; a justice of the 

28 



orphans court ; a delegate to the congress of the 
Confederation; thrice Governor; for five years 
a State Senator; a presidential elector; a major- 
general of the militia of Maryland; president 
of the Maryland Society of the Cincinnati for 
twenty-three years ; for seven years, a Senator 
of the United States; brigadier-general in the 
United States army when a foreign war was 
expected; in the war of 1812, one of the Com- 
mittee of vigilance and defense. When the 
capitulation of Baltimore was suggested the 
aged hero said that he had four sons in the field 
and as much property at stake as most persons, 
but would rather see his sons slain and his 
property reduced to ashes than so far disgrace 
his country. 

Not many manuscripts of Howard are 
known to me, except such as have been printed. 
The following letter, addressed to Robert Gil- 
mor, from Philadelphia, June 26, 1788, de- 
serves to be given, particularly because it shows 
the attitude of the writer respecting the adop- 
tion of the Federal Constitution. 

"I congratulate you on the interesting event of the 
ratification of the Federal Government by the state of 
New Hampshire. It now becomes a question with the 
states that have not adopted the Government, whether 
they will make a part of the union or not. In the pres- 
ent situation of affairs this is with them a serious ques- 
tion. Notwithstanding the objections to the Govern- 
ment that it will swallow up the state Governments, no 
person uninfluenced by selfish views can think that any 
state by withdrawing itself from the union will be in a 

29 



more eligible situation than those in the union. The 
Government once established they in my opinion will 
soon become petitioners to be admitted, except those 
under the influence of turbulent men who wish to be at 
the head of a faction, or those whose interest it is to be 
without any Government. If Virginia follows the exam- 
ple of New Hampshire, we shall I hope secure to this 
country the blessings of peace and become respectable, 
which I hardly expect without some struggle." 

When rupture with France was imminent at 
the close of the century, he was offered the ap- 
pointment of brigadier-general under Wash- 
ington, who was expected to command once 
more the United States army. When Balti- 
more was threatened by the British, in 1814, 
Howard, already more than sixty years old, 
came at once to the front. Thus interchanging 
the repose of a private citizen with the respon- 
sibilities, of a public servant, he passed on to the 
age of seventy-five years and then, after a brief 
illness, expired. "During the summer his 
strength had been evidently declining and his 
desire for life grew less and less. On the 3d of 
October he rode out on horseback and took 
cold, after which he was under the constant 
care of his physicians and of his family until he 
was released by death," October 12, 1827. 

The funeral was attended from Belvedere 
and the procession moved, as the papers say, 
"through the park," Centre street, Calvert 
street, and Baltimore street to the cemetery of 
St. Paul's Church where a simple monument 
marks his resting place. Next day, the Balti- 

30 



more American contained an appreciative ac- 
count of his life, evidently carefully prepared 
by a skillful writer, probably an eminent prel- 
ate. Some passages of it have been incorpora- 
ted in almost all the notices of Colonel Howard 
that have since appeared. 

On this occasion, after such a review, what 
words can be so fitting as those of General 
Nathanael Greene, second to Washington in 
the army of the Revolution, who expressed, in 
a letter which should be treasured as a priceless 
heirloom, more valuable than a patent of nobil- 
ity, the sentiment — ''Howard deserves a statue 
no less than the Roman and Grecian heroes. " 

The influence of this memorial will be peren- 
nial. If a foreign foe should ever again bring 
alarm to North Point, or if civic disorder or 
domestic anarchy should disturb these quiet 
streets, — the young men of Baltimore, trained 
in the national guard of the commonwealth, 
and thus accustomed to habits of obedience, 
fortitude and concerted action, will be inspired 
by the remembrance of the hero of Cowpens, 
and will emulate his valor. 

Nor is that the only influence radiating 
from Monument Square. We are not all de- 
scended from the heroes of the Revolution, nor 
can all of us bear arms in the defence of liberty 
and law. A large proportion of the inhabitants 
of Baltimore are of foreign birth; the parents 

31 



of many more passed their childhood in distant 
lands. It is nobody's fault that they did not 
learn in the nursery to revere the name of 
Washington; that to them the burning of the 
"Peggy Stewart" has no significance ; that Val- 
ley Forge awakens no sad memories, and York- 
town no exultation ; that they know not the 
bridge where the embattled farmers stood who 
"fired the shot heard round the world;" and 
that the Cowpens is like a word in an unknown 
tongue. Shall I say it is their misfortune? No, 
rather say good fortune brought them to a land 
where civil and religious freedom, secured by 
the wisdom of great statesmen and defended by 
brave men, has produced conditions under 
which every man may worship God according 
to his own conscience, every child may receive 
a public education, may rise according to his 
virtue, industry and talents, to thrift and con- 
tentment, and be qualified to take some part, if 
it be only the humble part of a voter, in main- 
taining the principles of good government. As 
they look upon the figure of Howard, let them 
be reminded that among his fellow soldiers in 
the war of Independence were Montgomery, the 
Irishman; Kosciusko and Pulaski, the Poles; 
DeKalb and Steuben, the Germans; Rocham- 
beau and Lafayette, the Frenchmen ; and let 
them determine that the government, secured 
by such men, shall receive from their compa- 



32 



triots in the twentieth century the defence and 
support which are due to a priceless inheritance. 
We cannot be too mindful that on education, 
morality and religion, and on conscientious 
and self-sacrificing devotion to the public serv- 
ice, the State depends. 

Still further gain may be expected from the 
transactions of this day. A complete century 
has passed since the man whom we commemo- 
rate served his countrymen on the battle-field 
and in the senate. The entire country has profi- 
ted by the exertions of Howard and his col- 
leagues, and the Republic has not been ungrate- 
ful. Baltimore is especially indebted to him for 
the gifts which secured to us these beautiful 
squares and the monument which crowns them ; 
and more than this, for the public spirit shown 
in his devotion to the city of his lifelong resi- 
dence, to his native state, and to the national 
government which he helped to found. May 
future generations admire his character and 
emulate his virtues. They constitute "a mon- 
ument more enduring than brass." Gratitude, 
perpetual gratitude, is due from us and from 
our successors and descendants to those wise 
men among whom our hero served. 

A great orator, closing his tribute to one who 
was in his time the greatest American states- 
man, remarks that in the relations of civilized 
life, there is no higher service which man can 



33 



render to man, than to preserve a wise consti- 
tutional government in healthful action; and 
he quotes from that "admirable treatise on the 
Republic of which some previous chapters have 
been restored to us after having been lost for 
ages," a sentence where Cicero "does not hesi- 
tate to affirm that there is nothing in which 
human virtue approaches nearer the divine than 
in establishing and preserving states," — civi- 
tates ant condere novas, aut conservare jam 
conditas. 

In our day, many clouds hang over the skies. 
Problems of unprecedented perplexity present 
themselves to the consideration of thoughtful 
citizens. The student of history sometimes 
wonders whether popular government will 
prove adequate to the new demands. For one, 
I believe that it will. Already in the most dis- 
tant of our possessions we have seen the intro- 
duction of sound political principles and meth- 
ods, and the most ancient of empires bears wit- 
ness to the conciliatory influence of American 
diplomacy. This benign influence will in the 
long run depend upon the action of the people. 
Let them keep informed of and adhere to the 
principles of the founders of the republic; let 
the example and services be forever cherished 
of those who were the friends, colleagues, and 
co-workers with John Eager Howard. 



34 



Emmanuel jfremiet 

3. Xettos Timbite 



THE Statue of General Howard is the work 
of Mr. Emmanuel Fremiet, who for 
many years has been recognized as the 
leading sculptor of equestrian statues, and the 
head of his profession in France. 

The history of his life is both interesting 
and instructive. 

His first exhibit, the plaster cast of a gazelle, 
was sent to the annual Paris Salon of 1843, 
and his first horse was bought by the Govern- 
ment in 1853. But there were many subse- 
quent years of trial and disappointment before 
he attained to that complete success which had 
long been his due. 

Mr. T. H. Bartlett the art critic, the father 
of the well known American sculptor, Mr. 
Paul Weyland Bartlett, who was a pupil of Fre- 
miet, has written a most interesting sketch of 
the early life and struggles of his son's teacher. 

At a very early age he showed a decided tal- 
ent for drawing, and received his first lessons 
from his cousin, a remarkable woman, who 
became the wife of the well known sculptor 
Rude. 

He distinguished himself under mediocre 
teachers, at a school of drawing, and at the age 
of 15 it was decided that he should adopt some 
regular profession. His father, a man of intel- 
lect, but erratic, would have made a printer of 
him ; fortunately his mother would not hear of 
this. 

37 



Herself a bread winner, and a woman of 
strong character, she resolved to make every 
sacrifice in order to secure for her son the call- 
ing of his choice. 

He was placed with Vernet, a lithographer 
and painter of Natural History who was then 
employed at the Jardin des Plantes, the great 
Zoological Gardens of Paris. Here he re- 
ceived the handsome salary of one dollar a 
month, for eight hours work of a most tedious 
and exacting character. This consisted in 
drawing upon stone the bones of various ani- 
mals with scientific accuracy, often with the 
aid of a microscope. 

The early light found him daily at work, al- 
though it was only at a later date that he real- 
ized what a valuable training for eye and hand 
he had secured through this drudgery. 

Very soon, as the reward of faithful service, 
Vernet gave him his afternoons free, and this 
spare time was now employed in making plas- 
ter casts from all sorts of dead nature for Or- 
fila, a celebrated physician who was then form- 
ing his since famous Museum of Comparative 
Anatomy. 

Such occupation, however valuable as train- 
ing, could lead to nothing. And when, after 
leaving Orfila, the boy was found, like Barye, 
making clay models of the inmates of the great 
menagerie, his mother urged him to go to 
Rude. 

38 



The boy of 17 was invited by his kinsman to 
attend his studio; but an insuperable obstacle 
at once arose : Who was to provide the $20 
for the banquet with which each newcomer was 
expected to entertain his companions? The 
problem was solved by a mother's love; her 
deft fingers completed, during the hours of rest, 
an order for shirts to the required amount. 

The relations between mother and son were 
most tender and beautiful. For many years 
she was his sole companion, sharing, with 
never failing sympathy, both his trials and suc- 
cess. Her spirit may be seen in that untiring 
energy, that indomitable perseverance, which 
offer at least one explanation of his remarkable 
career. 

Rude soon recognized his pupil's talent and 
brought him to his private studio for more 
careful instruction. 

This well known sculptor was through life 
in constant opposition to the schools of his 
day, he denounced tradition as enslaving and 
constantly impressed upon his pupils the need 
of following nature alone as a model. From 
him, Mr. Fremiet learnt that independence 
which has been at the same time a source of 
strength and the cause of much tribulation. 

His first exhibit in 1843 was followed by 
others in rapid succession, and before his 27th 
year he had sold three of his works to the 

39 



State, one of them for $1,000, and had won 
two medals as well as a considerable reputation. 

But the real struggle was still to come: It 
soon became necessary for him to fall back 
upon his early experience, and with character- 
istic versatility he began to make little models 
for the jewelers, sketches for illustrated papers 
and for the doctors, without any pause in his 
own artistic work. 

One day as h,e was crossing the Pont Royal, 
the young artist's eye was caught by a passing 
light horseman, of whom he made a statuette. 
Count de Nieuwerkerke, a sculptor, was then 
Superintendent of Fine Arts, as well as Court 
Chamberlain. The statuette was taken to him 
and by. him shown to the Emperor. Both were 
delighted, and the result was an order for a 
series of similar statuettes in plaster to the 
number of seventy, representing every army 
and navy corps. 

It is characteristic of Mr. Fremiet's con- 
scientious methods that he was only able to 
produce six of these statuettes during the year. 
For each one he received $200, one half of 
which was swallowed up by the expenses. So 
that for eleven years, his best talents were de- 
voted to this undertaking, which brought in 
merely $50 a month, and prevented all original 
work. 



40 



As many of these statuettes were equestrian, 
the Imperial stables were placed entirely at his 
disposal. It is easy to see what an incalculable 
benefit was conferred upon the future sculptor 
of equestrian statues, by this unique opportu- 
nity to study at leisure so many horses of every 
race and type. 

With the exception of seven statuettes, 
which were preserved in bronze by the sculp- 
tor, this entire series was destroyed by fire, 
with the Tuileries, in 1871. 

The close of the second Empire saw the be- 
ginning of that remarkable series of equestrian 
statues of which the latest will be unveiled to- 
day. To this period belong the Napoleon I, 
now at Grenoble, which was Mr. Fremiet's 
first life size equestrian statue; also the bronze 
horsemen of old Rome and early Gaul, now in 
the Museum of St. Germain ; and above all the 
beautiful representation of the Duke of Or- 
leans, brother of the luckless Charles VI, in 
tilting armour, which was placed by Viollet-le- 
Duc in the Court of Honor of the Duke's own 
castle of Pierrefonds, then recently restored 

Probably no work of art ever had such a 
history as the famous equestrian statue of Joan 
of Arc. One day in 1873 Mr. Fremiet, accom- 
panied by his devoted friend Gerome, took the 
sketch of the proposed statue to Jules Simon, 
then Minister of Fine Arts. He was delighted ; 

4i 



the order was given at once ; and at a later date, 
without notice or ceremony of any sort, the 
statue was erected on the Place des Pyramides, 
on the spot where the maid of Orleans is said 
to have scaled the ramparts of Paris. 

It was to be expected that the pupil of Rude 
would meet with great opposition, but no one 
could foresee the storm of criticism and abuse 
which greeted this apparition. 

The artistic world, with a few notable ex- 
ceptions, joined in condemning it from every 
point of view. It was even proposed to offer 
a petition to the City Council, requesting the 
removal of the offending statue. Some of these 
criticisms are astonishing, and must have 
made unpleasant reading for their authors at a 
later date. 

Seventeen years later, the conscientious art- 
ist, wishing to make one or two slight altera- 
tions, sent to the annual Salon a new Joan of 
Arc; and now the critics all united in saying 
that the first statue of the Place des Pyramides 
was so nearly perfect, that it would be a crime 
to substitute for it any other, however excel- 
lent; and the strongest opposition was raised 
to any suggestion of substitution. 

The strange reception accorded to his first 
Joan of Arc was a severe blow to Mr. Fremiet, 
and these were perhaps his darkest hours ; but 
the dawn was at hand. Orders began to suc- 

42 



ceed each other rapidly, as well as honours, 
long deferred. 

On the death of Barye, he was elected to fill 
the vacant chair of Professor of modelling at 
the Museum of the Jardin des Plantes. The 
Gold Medal of Honor was at last awarded to 
him, for practically the same remarkable group, 
"the gorilla," which had been refused admis- 
sion to the Salon twenty years before. Those 
doors of the Institute of France, which had 
always remained closed to Rude, now opened 
wide to receive his pupil and champion. 

The Garden of the Trocadero must have an 
elephant by him ; and the Fountain of the Ob- 
servatory, a group of marine horses. The 
mounted Torch Bearer was made, in order to 
mount guard at the entrance to the grand stair- 
way of the new Hotel de Ville. And when an 
equestrian statue of the Grand Conde appeared 
at the Salon, the Due d'Aumale said to the 
artist that it was obviously intended for him, 
and soon the great general was standing upon 
the broad terrace of his own chateau of Chan- 
tilly, which his heir has since bequeathed with 
all its treasures to the Nation. 

A government architect restored the ruined 
spire of the great fortress abbey of the Mont 
St. Michel, and declared that nothing should 
stand upon the giddy pinnacle, if it were not 

43 



Fremiet's Archangel Michael, perhaps the most 
beautiful single figure he has ever made. 

From distant Roumania came an order rep- 
resenting $26,000; and others from different 
parts of France, from Philadelphia, and Suez, 
where a colossal Lesseps looks down upon the 
Canal of his own creation. 

Mention must at least be made of the won- 
derful equestrian group of St. George trans- 
fixing the Dragon, also of the equestrian stat- 
ues of those two doughty warriors of the Hun- 
dred Years War, Oliver de Clisson and 
Duguesclin; the latter made for the town of 
Dinan, the former an order from the great Con- 
stable's descendant, the Due de Rohan, to be 
placed in the Court of his old chateau de Josse- 
lin, which still crowns its lofty rock in Brit- 
tany. 

Scattered about through a variety of public 
and private buildings, there is a vast amount 
of decorative and other work by Mr. Fremiet, 
which alone would have sufficed to make the 
reputation of a sculptor. 

By common consent the world of art has 
classed together as the "three great equestrian 
statues," the Marcus Aurelius in Rome, the 
Gattamelata of Donatello in Padua and the 
Colleone of Verrochic in Venice. Over these 
Mr. Bartlett claims for Mr. Fremiet's eques- 

44 



trian statues superiority in the following 
points : 

"His horses are living, natural and of fine 
"type. 

"When they are intended to move they do 
"so ; have moved, are moving and will continue 
"to move. 

"They are thoroughly and elegantly con- 
structed ; firmly and beautifully modelled. 

"They compose with their riders in every 
"respect, in type, action, proportion and sym- 
pathy, producing a perfect whole, in character 
"with the subject." 



45 



LE N '!0 



